


The Beginning

by baublegum, Goldzilla



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: ABO dynamics, Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Omegaverse, eventual Sugawara Koushi/Sawamura Daichi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 21:12:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6345358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baublegum/pseuds/baublegum, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldzilla/pseuds/Goldzilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Koushi is a precocious child, kind and beautiful, and soft in all the troublesome ways.  He gives his love freely, and without question, filling Kazuko’s heart with light and joy.  Their life is simple, yet precious.  It is idyllic.</p>
<p>It cannot last.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [baublegum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/baublegum/gifts).



> For my dearest friend, [baublegum](http://archiveofourown.org/users/baublegum/pseuds/baublegum): thanks for being the best accomplice I could ever ask for, and for being as excited as I am about this strange trip we're about to take together. I don't know what I'd be doing right now if I'd never met you. You know what they say: friends help you move, but _real_ friends co-create a fantasy alternate universe multimedia project based on a dream one of them had after reading too much ABO fanfiction and drinking an entire bottle of wine.
> 
> For the readers: as detailed above, this all began as a dream. I don't know why my subconscious decided to deliver to me a richly detailed Daisuga ABO experience, but I'm certainly glad it did. As for the rather inauspicious title to this first installment, it is simply what it says on the tin: the beginning. I hope you enjoy. - Goldzilla

Koushi is born, amid blood and anguish, under a full moon. A good omen, all agree, despite his mother’s tight embrace becoming limp moments after dropping a loving kiss to his downy silver crown. Later they will say it is a shame that such a beautiful omega had to die so young, that Nature is cruel to claim the good, yet they will do nothing to prevent such a fate befalling his legacy. When his son is mature he, too, will be sold to the highest bidder and bound to make a home and, more importantly, children. Such is the life of an omega in a village on the fringe.

Kazuko knows this acutely. Her own brilliant son was taken in childbirth years ago, and though she could not protect Koushi’s mother, she vows to make it right for her late neighbor’s infant son when his father is found days later, in the woods, mauled by a bear. Is it fortunate, all agree, that Kazuko raise another to replace the one she lost, for children are life’s greatest blessing.

Kazuko names them all idiots. She writes to Koushi’s aunt, far to the east, to inform her that her brother is dead before gathering the tender babe to her breast and moving to her remote ancestral home by the river.

Then, once safe, she plans.

*

Koushi is a precocious child, kind and beautiful, and soft in all the troublesome ways. He gives his love freely, and without question, filling Kazuko’s heart with joy she thought she had lost. She loves him desperately, this child of moonlight, which is why she prays nightly that their life together lasts just a little longer.

But, like all good things, it ends far too soon.

Koushi is nine years old when Kazuko suddenly tells him to go inside the house and lock the door. He does what he is told, because he is a good boy, but not before he sees the large man with what looks like a deer across his shoulders approaching them from the south.

“A deer!” he exclaims in wonderment.

“Koushi,” she warns.

“Yes, Grandmother!” he sings, and locks himself inside.

Kazuko sets down the bowl of early peas she has been shucking and watches the man until his features become discernible to her tired eyes. “Masaru,” she greets him warily.

“Kazuko.” He stops at the hedge that marks the boundary of her property and waits. It is a sign of respect, but as far as Kazuko is concerned, he can respect her until the day he dies. “I brought a deer,” he says needlessly, and shrugs his heavy shoulder against the burden.

“What for?” Kazuko grunts.

“The boy needs meat,” Masaru tells her.

“What business is that of yours?”

Masaru slings the carcass to the ground with a huff. “You can’t protect him forever.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It is an offer,” Masaru tells her patiently.

Kazuko considers the young man before her. Masaru is not the handsomest of men, but he is a strong, reliable alpha and has a kind smile. She has always liked him for his politeness and honest, simple way - she does not appreciate his current presumption, however. “You are about four years too early,” she says after a moment.

“You would be smart to take me seriously.”

“And I will. In four years, when Koushi is of the customary age.”

“You may not have that long.”

Kazuko eyes Masaru sharply. “What do you mean?”

“There has been talk. In town. Among the unmated alphas.”

“What kind of talk?”

“Dammit, woman,” he says in exasperation. “You know what kind.”

Kazuko curses under her breath. She knew the day would come when she would need to field offers of courtship, but never imagined it would be so soon. Truly, she had planned to have Koushi gone from this backwater town long before he had even had his first heat, but it seems her plans must be advanced.

“Thank you for the meat, Masaru,” she says abruptly.

“Kazuko -”

“Please give my regards to your mother.”

Masaru grunts, clearly understanding that he has been dismissed. “I’ll be back,” he tells her. “But whatever your decision, make it soon, or it may no longer be yours.”

Kazuko mulls over Masaru’s warning as she watches his form disappear into the distance. She wants to be righteously angry, as the situation warrants, but can only find it in her heart to grieve. She must give up the brightest joy she has ever known in order to save his life. It is a selfish thing, this feeling, and she allows herself to wallow in it for only a moment before picking up the bowl of peas and turning toward the house. Koushi ducks from the window, spying, and opens the door for her.

“Koushi, dear,” she says to his worried little face, “start the smokehouse fire. We travel east by the new moon.”

Koushi dances to the old tinderbox in the corner in excitement. Travel is adventure, and Koushi has not had many of those. “What is in the east, Grandmother?” he asks her.

“The Atheneum,” she tells him

And, she hopes, his salvation.

*

It has been years since they last corresponded - nine, to be exact - and Kazuko hopes her old neighbor retains enough fondness for her and her home to agree to her request for an audience. They wait in the gardens, as instructed, and Kazuko sends Koushi off to explore the flower beds as a familiar form approaches.

“Kazuko,” the woman greets with a warm smile. “It’s been years. What brings you here?”

“Sister Yuko.” Kazuko nods toward the child bending curiously to observe a cluster of bright flowers. “I bring an offer to the Order,” she tells her.

Sister Yuko’s eyes rake critically over the boy. She notes his pretty face and round limbs, his nature obvious, and purses her lips in thought. “He’s a rather...unconventional choice, don’t you think?” she says after a moment.

“He is bright, and kind. Learns quickly and behaves well.”

“He’ll be a distraction.”

“He will make a superb physic.”

“He’s obscene.”

“He is Akira’s.”

Sister Yuko stiffens.

“Would you deny your own flesh and blood?” Kazuko presses.

“I don’t -” Sister Yuko starts, then stops. “It would be unseemly to...my brother -”

“Your brother’s life was short, and violent. If he had not died birthing that boy he would have fought tooth and nail for him to have every opportunity he never had for himself. You know as well as I what fate awaits him if he remains at home.”

“I -” Sister Yuko starts again, but then Koushi giggles and her face softens. “Does he know?”

“No. I thought it best he knew as little as possible until necessary.”

“Yes.”

Kazuko arches an eyebrow. “Yes?”

Sister Yuko fixes her with a resigned look. “Yes,” she repeats. “I’ll take him. He’s a little young yet, and I’ll have to lie about his origins, but I’ll try.”

Kazuko nods, satisfied. Everything is as she hoped. “Koushi, dear,” she calls. “There is someone here I want you to meet.”

Koushi smiles brightly and skips over to throw his arms adoringly around Kazuko’s waist to hug her close. “Yes, Grandmother?” he says.

“This is Sister Yuko,” Kazuko tells him as she runs her fingers through his soft curls. “You are to stay with her now.”

Koushi tips his head back and looks up at Kazuko in alarm. “Have I done something to displease you?” he asks fearfully.

“No, child,” Kazuko tells him. “Quite the opposite. You are to receive an education here, and make something of yourself.”

“But I want to stay with you!” Koushi begs, his large eyes brimming with tears.

“Koushi,” Kazuko begins sternly, “do you remember the man who came to our home before we left?”

Koushi sniffles and buries his face in the old woman’s side, but nods.

“He wished to take you from me forever. I managed to turn him away with words, but one day soon words will not be enough and your life will be over before it has even begun. I do not want that for you, and Sister Yuko has kindly offered a solution. Do you understand?”

Koushi is still as he thinks this over, but eventually nods again. Somehow, in his childish way, he understands the gravity of the situation and knows his grandmother has his best interests at heart. He turns his tear-stained face away from her side and nervously looks toward Sister Yuko, who offers him an unsure smile.

“Come, child,” Sister Yuko says, and Koushi stares at her in trepidation until Kazuko nudges him forward. He releases Kazuko’s waist and takes Sister Yuko’s outstretched hand, stumbling as she gently tugs him into walking. Panic suddenly bursts in his chest and Koushi struggles to wrench free, but Sister Yuko’s grip is far too tight, and as they pass through the Atheneum’s gates he realizes, just like that, his life is forever changed.

The last image he has of his beloved grandmother is of a small and suddenly frail looking woman sadly waving him into a future far more uncertain than the one he leaves behind.

*

It is two weeks later, after lengthy and heated discussion, that it is decided he is fit to be trained by the Order. He hears words like “instinct” and “nature” and “risky” bandied about at his presentation, but he decides they do not matter since Sister Yuko seems pleased. He excitedly asks her if he can write to Kazuko to tell her about it, but like all his other requests since he came here he is firmly denied.

“You must put her out of your mind,” Sister Yuko instructs. “You have lessons now and can spare no thought for an old woman.”

Koushi cries himself to sleep that night. He misses his grandmother terribly and yearns for her love, but believes that this is what must be or she would never have given him up. He trusts her, and though it hurts, resolves to finally set aside his broken heart. It is what she would want.

Koushi is nearly ten years old when his curls are cut, his clothes exchanged for itchy drab robes, and he is forced to give up the one person he loves most in the world.

*

Koushi is twelve when he begins to notice he is being watched. It is subtle, at first, and he thinks he might just be self-conscious, because he has felt a little awkward in his own skin for a while now. But it slowly becomes obvious how alphas’ eyes trace him in the Square, and how bright youngsters vie for his attention before their mothers shoo them away with a suspicious glare. They watch him but they do not speak to him, which makes no sense because he is not yet Dedicated. It is isolating and it hurts, but nothing hurts more than what he overhears inside the Atheneum.

“That one has the itch,” some Wisdoms say when they think that he cannot hear them. “It is pointless to have him here,” they whisper behind their hands, “just look at him.” They talk about his body as if his very person offends them, and it shames him to hear their criticisms: how his eyes are little too wide, his hips a little too round, lips a little too plush, and his rear -

One of the older Dedicated, when pressed, tells Koushi that he is built for it, but he will not say what “it” is. Koushi gets the distinct impression that he does not want to know.

*

Koushi is thirteen when a strange, dark-eyed alpha upsets an apple cart in his haste to cross the Square to approach him, despite Koushi’s gray robes visibly declaring that he must not. Koushi is Dedicated now, pledged heart and mind to the service of the Order, and as such, untouchable - yet it takes him longer than appropriate to push the offending alpha away while his brethren flutter around him in alarm. An alpha bystander helps to pull the boy away with a stern word and an apology for “the foreigner’s” behavior, but Koushi barely hears him. He nods in dazed reply when prompted and allows himself to be led away by the other Dedicated. They seem relieved, but mostly unaffected, and when Koushi’s mind finally clears he risks a glance over his shoulder when they are no longer paying him any mind. His eyes are met with the strange alpha’s intense gaze, and Koushi’s cheeks burn with unexpected heat as he turns down the lane to the Atheneum.

Koushi spends the rest of the day in a bit of a fog as he recalls the feeling of the alpha’s hot breath against his throat, and the way he had looked at him so boldly. It is confusing but exciting, and he wants to talk to Sister Yuko about it, but he has a feeling it would disappoint her, so he keeps it to himself and manages to stumble through his chores with minimal error before he goes to bed.

When Koushi wakes later that night tangled in sweaty sheets and with burning thoughts of the dark-eyed alpha on his mind, he thinks he might know what “it” is.

And, so help him - he wants it.

*

“Koushi, why are you here?”

Koushi looks up from his book in faint alarm. “To learn and serve,” he replies automatically, though he suspects she means something else.

Sister Yuko nods. “Why do you suppose you have not been Called?” she asks him.

“I don’t know,” he says honestly. He is nineteen now, and a year beyond the standard age of Dedication. While most of his peers have answered their Calling and dispersed throughout the land, he has remained behind, furthering his education while waiting for his moment. It has been difficult, but he trusts that it will happen when it is meant to, just like it has for the last two centuries.

“You were never meant for this life,” Sister Yuko tells him, and Koushi feels his heart drop into the cold pit of his stomach. “You’re smart, Koushi,” she continues, “and gentle. You’re the most talented physic we’ve raised in nearly twenty years, and yet there has always been something wanting. You love, and wish to be loved, but not just as Wisdom. We both know that is impossible for you here.”

Koushi swallows thickly against the knot rising painfully in his throat and drops his eyes in shame. After the incident in the square years ago he had stripped himself of all thoughts and desires unbecoming of the Order and threw himself into his studies, zealously readying himself for his Calling when the time came. It had been difficult, especially in the weeks leading up to _that time_ every year, but he thought he had managed to hide it well. Not well enough, apparently. The disappointment is enough to crush his heart.

“I’ve received a letter from an old friend,” Sister Yuko announces after a moment. “She is the Wisdom of a village deep in Miyagi and is nearing the end of her service. You are to go to her, learn what you can, and replace her.” Koushi looks up at her in shock as she fixes him with a soft and rare smile. “Listen to what she tells you, my sweet, stubborn boy. Listen, and learn. These people need you.”

“Yes, Sister,” Koushi breathes as relief blooms in his chest. “Thank you, Sister.”

Sister Yuko nods toward the study door. “Go. Be ready to travel at first light.”

Koushi throws her a grin as he dashes off to do as he is told. He pauses at the door and looks to her, almost disbelieving, until she smiles again and shoos him with her hand. He feels as if his face might split in two as he winds his way ebulliantly through the hallways and to his room.

“Morisuke!” Koushi shouts when he bursts through their door. “It’s happened! I’ve been Called!”

Morisuke’s eyes go wide as he looks up from the spare robes in his hands. “Finally!” he exclaims with a grin. “Where?”

“Miyagi,” Koushi tells him and drops to his knees to seek out the rucksack he knows is stored under his bed. He cannot possibly pack soon enough.

“The Miyagi Mountains?” Morisuke repeats. “But it’s wild there!”

Koushi hums distractedly and pulls the rucksack from its hiding place, then sets about stuffing his scant belongings rather unceremoniously inside.

“You should deny it,” Morisuke continues, and Koushi turns to find his friend’s face pinched in concern. “I mean it, Koushi. The people there are superstitious, and haven’t conquered their instincts like we have. Going out there is -”

“My only chance,” Koushi interrupts quietly. He sighs and gingerly seats himself beside Morisuke on his bed, good mood suddenly gone. “I know what they say about me here. Don’t -” he holds up a hand to still the protest he knows is coming, and Morisuke frowns. “I know I look more fit for...less exalted occupations. My head is filled with vulgar thoughts at times and everyone here seems to know it as if they were written on my skin. There would always be talk, no matter where I went, unless it was far enough away where ‘Koushi the Uncalled’ was unknown. I made my peace with that idea long ago.”

“But you’re so _good_ ,” Morisuke whines. “You deserve better.”

“It’s no longer a matter of deserving, for me. Sister Yuko says these people need me, and...well, I need this chance. I can’t afford to wait for another. I’ve been here far too long as it is.” It is then that Koushi notices how bare their room is, and the neatly packed rucksack on the floor near their feet. “What’s this?”

“I’ve received my Calling, too,” Morisuke says with a small smile. “In the Foothills.”

Koushi immediately brightens. “Then it looks like we travel together,” he laughs, and nudges Morisuke’s shoulder with his own.

Morisuke’s smile widens until it finally touches his eyes. “You know what I think?” he asks.

“No. What?”

“These people may need you, but they’re in no way deserving of you.”

Koushi laughs again and wraps his friend in a tight embrace. He will miss this, the warmth and kinship of shared belonging, and he knows that though it may be hard, he will find it again soon. In this he whole-heartedly believes.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the start to this weird little AU of ours!
> 
> Now that the stage is set I (Goldzilla) will be shifting focus to the "multi" part of the multimedia venture and leaving the words in [baublegum's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/baublegum/pseuds/baublegum) more capable hands.


End file.
